US captain's China adventure

US Captain Brooke Dolan II in local tunnel warfare in north China in 1945. [File photo]

Captain Brooke Dolan II traveled to the central battlefront of Hebei province as a US observer in January of 1945 when China was undergoing the final crucial phase of the anti-Japanese war.

The captain visited the local tunnel warfare and marveled at the fortifications created by the Chinese people. Unfortunately, his where-abouts were detected by the Japanese military and soon he was surrounded.

The captain was escorted by Shi Shaohua, deputy editor-in-chief of Jinchaji Huabao (a local official magazine), and retreated together with the local people. In the tunnel, he, together with the residents, was saved at the cost of the life of an eight-month-old crying baby, who was suffocated to death by his mother with her breast in order not to be heard by the enemies.